[OSM-newbies] street with T-junctions in JOSM

[gh111 at heinzel.name]

Dear experts,

I have a problem with JOSM when adding sidestreets to a main street:

http://www.openstreetmap.org/index.html?mlat=52.392142198599345&mlon=9.706647295903071&zoom=17

The main street "Franziusweg" was already there, but the 4 sidestreets 
were missing. They are part of the same street and have the same name and 
properties. They end in 3-way "T"-junctions on the main street. I added 
nodes according to my GPS track and now I'm stuck how to combine these new 
ways (2 nodes each) with the existing main way. I have tried various 
things in JOSM (Version 869) but got either nothing or an error message:

"Could not combine ways (They could not be merged into a single string of 
nodes)"

As it is now, there are 5 separate ways all called "Franziusweg", the main 
curved one and 4 segments with 2 nodes each. Is that how it is supposed to 
be or should everything be merged into a single object, and if yes, how?

The only thing I found in the wiki pages is 

"Way": A way is an interconnection of at least two nodes that describe a 
linear feature such as a street, or similar. Nodes can be members of 
multiple ways. (from http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Elements)

The term "linear feature" sounds like it is impossible to describe  
single roads with T-junctions. Is that right?

Thanks for any hint,

Gerhard